GM and Lyft Look to Make Self-Driving Taxis a Reality

If you've been counting on your Uber driver to help you get acquainted with a new city, newsflash: There soon may not be anyone in the driver's seat, at least not if you're using Uber's ride-hailing competitor, Lyft. General Motors, which announced the launch of its own car-sharing program earlier this year, is partnering with Lyft to begin testing a line of self-driving electric taxis. The companies plans to test the technology on the Chevrolet Bolt EV.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, details of the test runs are still being ironed out, but the riders able to participate in the driver-free experience will be Lyft customers in a city that's yet to be revealed. Although if cruising the streets sans pilot makes you nervous, don't stress too much: Users in the test city will be able to opt in or out on the Lyft app.

In January, GM invested $500 million in Lyft, giving the company a $5.5 billion valuation. Then in March, the automaker said that it planned to acquire Cruise Automation, a technology company in San Francisco specializing in driverless technology. Old-school GM's entrance into shiny Silicon Valley has come with a hefty price tag: The company reportedly paid “north of $1 billion” in the deal, in an offering that included both cash and stock.

GM and Lyft's driverless program is meant to compete with Alphabet Inc.'s Google X self-driving cars, as well as Uber, according to the WSJ. (Uber is also currently researching autonomous cars at a center in Pittsburgh.) Venture Capital firm CB Insights alleges that 30 corporations are looking to elbow their way into the space.

Whether or not a driverless car will be picking you up at the airport in the next five years depends not only on technology, but also regulations. According to Reuters, U.S. vehicle safety officials are relaxing the rules "by saying an artificial intelligence system piloting a self-driving Google car could be considered the driver under federal law." What's more, certain states and countries have already given the go-ahead for autonomous vehicles, and auto executives speculate that the promise to cut congestion and pollution through the use of driverless electronic cars would give them an edge.

Still, the question remains: Would you ride in a car that didn't have a driver? The auto and tech industries are betting big that the answer is yes.